PESHAWAR, June 16: Horrible scenes at the casualty ward of the city’s major hospital discourage the patients from revisiting the Lady Reading Hospital, a number of affected people told Dawn.

There was no proper lights at the casualty ward of the hospital “when I visited it last night for my chest pain. It was 10pm. The doctor advised me an ECG, suspecting that I had some heart problem. It was terrible when I went to a small, dingy room for the test,” said a person.

He said there was no electricity or other arrangements required for the test while scores of patients were waiting desperately. Rush of patients was at its peak because the registration clerk issued the OPD slips to every patient while the doctors there looked busy doing nothing, he further said, adding that the patients were screaming due to pain, some of them were in critical condition, needing urgent medical aid but there was none.

A relative of another patient told Dawn that he brought his asthmatic brother for want of oxygen but the cylinder was short of the commodity. He said he complained to the doctor and other staff members but no help was forthcoming. At the end, he said, he tried to see a responsible person but no one was there to talk to.

The patients with broken bones had to suffer a great deal and the way the Plastic of Paris (PoP) was wrapped around their affected areas was simply astounding. The person was ill-trained and he did not even bother to see their X-rays while doing his job.

Lack of staff and inadequate facilities at the casualty ward of the 1,200-bedded hospital, has adversely affected its performance. About 1,500 patients visit the casualty ward in 24 hours on an average, most of them are relieved after getting the First Aid and the rest are referred to the different wards for admission.

The critically ill patients, needing emergency cover, have to undergo sever trauma because the wornout trails in which they are shifted to wards are without mattresses, pillows and bed-sheets, which multiply their trouble.

According to a doctor, the doctors at the casualty ward do not perform their duty properly and they simply prescribe pain-killing injection or other costly drugs from the nearby market without even examining the patients properly.

Lack of cleanliness is another factor bothering patients at the LRH. The casualty ward has got sweepers but they are generally sent outside by the doctors for irrelevant matters. The same is generally true of ward orderlies and other staff who are not interested in their duties and are there only to oblige their superiors.